About 30,000 of those discouraged voters — most of them in Orange and Osceola counties — likely would have backed Democratic President Barack Obama, according to Theodore Allen, an associate professor of industrial engineering at OSU.

About 19,000 voters would have likely backed Republican Mitt Romney, Allen said.

This suggests that Obama's margin over Romney in Florida could have been roughly 11,000 votes higher than it was, based just on Central Florida results. Obama carried the state by 74,309 votes out of more than 8.4 million cast.

Allen's first analysis of the impact of long lines at the polls was done in 2004, when he estimated that more than 20,000 voters in Franklin County, Ohio, where Ohio State is located, were discouraged from casting ballots in the razor-close contest between President George W. Bush and Democrat John Kerry. He has continued his research in every election since.

His analysis of Central Florida results compared precinct closing times, Election Day turnout and results in the presidential race — which attracted the highest vote totals of any race on the ballot — for all Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole county precincts.

His review indicated that for every additional hour that a precinct stayed open past 7 p.m. — a good indicator of line length throughout the day — turnout dropped by as much as 4.8 percent. The precincts with the longest lines, he found, had some of the lowest turnouts, a fact he attributed mostly to a record-long ballot that, in Orange County, ran to six pages.

As Allen put it in a report to the Sentinel: "Without understanding the importance of ballot length as a variable, it would be surprising to see from the data from 2012 in Central Florida that lower turnout was recorded in the locations with the longest waits. This is because longer ballots (not higher turnout) likely caused the longer lines which, in turn, suppressed the turnout."

Florida's long lines and late results have drawn unfavorable comparisons to the Sunshine State's 2000 presidential election problems, and state and federal lawmakers are pledging again to address it.

"School grades remain a function of politics, not academics"

The Palm Beach Post editorsial Board's Jac Wilder VerSteeg writes that "Florida’s high school grades for last year are out, and they show… what? For an alleged accountability system, the state-assigned grades show very little." "Higher high school grades show…not much".

"Extrapolating from narrow perspectives"

Bill Maxwell suggests that "elected officials and other leaders who have the power to make life-and-death decisions for the rest of us should be guided by a commitment to objectivity when they make policy."

In 2011, for example, the GOP-dominated Florida Legislature proposed a firearms law that would permit concealed weapons on college campuses. Surprisingly, the measure was voted down, handing the National Rifle Association a rare defeat in the Sunshine State.

The bill was defeated because Sen. John Thrasher, the powerful chairman of the Rules Committee and former Florida House speaker, persuaded fellow Republicans to reject it. He had been personally affected by a gun-related tragedy in a fraternity house at Florida State University.

On Jan. 9, 2011, Amy Cowie, 20, held her dying twin sister Ashley after she was accidently shot by Amy's boyfriend with his AK-47 rifle. The twins' father, Robert Cowie, was Thrasher's dentist.

Asked by journalists why he opposed the concealed-carry bill, Thrasher said: "It's beyond personal for me. Any other time, I might support something like this, but I can't."

What had prevented Thrasher from objectively weighing the need for concealed weapons on college campuses? Why did his dentist's 20-year-old daughter have to die for him to stop the gun lunacy?

Objective evidence — dead troops, maimed bodies, suicides, Afghan betrayals, millions of U.S. tax dollars squandered — indicated from the beginning that our military ambitions, like those of all nations before us, would be buried in Afghanistan, "the Graveyard of Empires."

None of it dissuaded Young, chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. He believed that our mythic invincibility would make us victorious where others had failed.

In September, the congressman changed course after Army Ranger Matthew Sitton was killed in Kandahar province. Sitton was a local warrior who had attended the Christian school operated by the church where Young worships.

Before Sitton was killed, the congressman had received a letter from the soldier describing bad decisions by commanders and Sisyphean challenges that may have contributed to the deaths of many troops.

Young acknowledged to the Tampa Bay Times editorial board that he been moved by Sitton's prediction of his own death, saying: "I think we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan as quickly as we can. I just think we're killing kids that don't need to die."

We were "killing our kids that don't need to die" long before Sitton's letter. And we are still killing them.

Leaders who control the fates of other Americans should not make vital decisions based on emotion. Yes, it is good the likes of Thrasher ... and Young modified their thinking, but we cannot trust leaders who are not seekers, who dodge objective information, who extrapolate from their own narrow perspectives.

Republicans stalling confirmation votes

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "Irresponsible Republican Senate leaders are stalling the confirmation votes for judicial nominees, including one in Florida’s Middle District for close to a year. What is needed is an up-or-down vote." "Senate stall hurts the courts".

"Florida stands to lose"

"Florida stands to lose 80,000 jobs, long-term unemployment benefits keeping families afloat and tax breaks worth about $2,000 for a middle-income family as leaders in Washington charge to a New Year’s deadline with no deal to stave off historic tax increases and spending cuts." "Florida has a lot at stake in fiscal cliff outcome". See also "Benefits for long-term unemployed falling over fiscal cliff as year ends without extension".

Whooppee!

The nonunion, without health insurance or pension, cheating on workers comp insurance industry is about to explode: "Tampa Bay area housing market poised to rebuild".

McBride remembered

"Bill McBride's bravery in battle and compassion toward others were celebrated Friday by hundreds of people who said goodbye, with laughter and tears, to the Tampa lawyer and civic leader who died last Saturday. Tampa's Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church was packed to overflowing with a civic and political who's who of Tampa Bay and beyond for a 90-minute memorial service." "Fond, even funny farewells". ("As Friday's memorial service drew to a conclusion, three U.S. Marines meticulously folded an American flag and presented it to Sink. McBride's ashes will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery").

"They recalled Bill McBride's rise from a working class family in Leesburg through a golden boyhood of academic and athletic stardom, then combat decorations as a Marine in Vietnam, to become a lawyer known for free work for charitable causes as head of a firm he built into one of the state's largest." "Bill McBride remembered for community service, work ethic".

One of this site's first posts, more than a decade ago on Saturday, October 12, 2002, read:

Recent polling shows the race tightening and trending in McBride's favor. Several weeks ago, several polls had McBride 6 points behind. An October 2-5 poll by Insider Advantage showed McBride closing the gap to 5% (Bush 47%, Mcbride 42%). The most recent numbers (Oct 8-7), a Survey USA poll, show McBride behind by 3 points (Bush 50%, Mcbride 47%). Mcbride has cut Bush's 6% lead in half, and is well within the margin of error.

"Restricting data-collection on all things related to guns"

Aaron Deslatte points out that "places like Florida have chosen to"

restrict data-collection on all things related to guns. The Legislature tried last year to lock up doctors for even asking about gun ownership. So, while corporations and political parties are free to data-mine with impunity your shopping habits, voting patterns, web-surfing and credit histories, we're purposefully in the dark about what makes people take up arms to kill each other. And more importantly, what types of collective action are required to make them stop.

Bondi is all about "waging partisan battles on cable television"

The Tampa Bay Times editors write that "Pam Bondi spent the first half of her first term as attorney general staking out very conservative positions that surprised many of her friends and former colleagues in Tampa."

At times she appeared to be taking direction from Gov. Rick Scott as the two more seasoned Cabinet members distanced themselves from the governor and established their own identities.

Bondi, 47, is on a losing streak. She lost her fight to overturn the federal health care law in the U.S. Supreme Court, and she traveled the country as a high-profile surrogate for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. She also had difficulty resolving a fight with legislative leaders over how to divide up $300 million in home foreclosure settlement money, making Florida one of the slowest states to spend the money.

With a re-election campaign less than two years away, 2013 is the year for Bondi to demonstrate she can set her own agenda and is more interested in holding public office than waging partisan battles on cable television.

Florida’s unemployment declining because fewer people are looking for work

The Palm Beach Post editorial board: "Until November, Florida’s unemployment rate had been declining because the number of people looking for work shrank. Discouraged job-seekers who give up aren’t counted in the official statistics. If they start looking again, the unemployment rate goes up — but economists see their return as a good sign." "Don’t throw jobs over the fiscal cliff".

Stevedores stand down ... for now

"Port Strike Averted for Now, Threat Remains".

"PBC the setting for big and bizarre political stories"

"From Mitt Romney’s '47 percent' remarks to a Boynton Beach commissioner’s nude photo scandal to new frontiers in elections bungling, Palm Beach County was the setting for some big and bizarre political stories in 2012." "U.S. politics vividly on display in Palm Beach County in 2012".

Florida ranks last in both size and cost of state government

"Gov. Rick Scott, who campaigned as a conservative business executive determined to shrink the size and cost of state government, has overseen a sharp decline in Florida government employment, a steep drop in state personnel costs and a six-fold increase in state employee layoffs during the first half of his term."

In its year-end personnel report, the Department of Management Services marked a falloff from 167,787 authorized state positions last fiscal year to 161,648 in all agency classifications as of June 30. The sharpest decline was in the three-tiered State Personnel System: the office workers and laborers, professional staff and top management appointees who make up nearly 65 percent of state job rolls.

The Annual Workforce Report documented cuts in authorized positions in the university system, courts, Legislature, Lottery and a few small categories. Scott's own office had an increase from 187 to 234 job slots, but that's not unusual in a transition. The Executive Office of the Governor last year shed a tourism-economic development office, an information-technology agency and an energy office -- while gaining the Division of Emergency Management. . . .

Data in the 2011-12 report do not support an image many Republican leaders often convey about state employees. In both size and cost of state government, Florida ranks last in the nation -- with 112 state workers per 10,000 population and a payroll cost of $37 per resident. The national averages in those categories are 213 employees per 10,000 population and $74 per resident in state personnel costs.

Those figures have changed very little over several years, with Florida always last or tied for 50th among states in size and cost of state personnel rolls.

"It's hard to make people understand that," said Jeanette Wynn, state president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents government office workers and laborers. "I believe Gov. Scott is doing exactly what he said he would do. His goal is to privatize everything and reduce government, and he has a Legislature that's going along with exactly what he wants to do."

The DMS report said the average Career Service salary on June 30 was $34,277 -- up from $34,119 a year earlier -- but the state's total cost of compensation, including benefits, in Career Service was down from $58,517 to exactly $57,000. That's largely because of the 3 percent pension deduction Scott imposed at the start of the last fiscal year, which is being challenged by AFSCME and other public-employee unions in the Florida Supreme Court.

The study found that the average for all SPS pay classes, including Selected Exempt and Senior Management, was $38,165 -- down 1.7 percent over five years. It also found that the average state employee in mid-2011 earned 11.6 percent less than the average annual wage for all industries in Florida, which was $42,311 then.

State contractor pays man in corner office $1.2 Million

"A nonprofit company that holds two dozen state contracts to care for troubled juveniles in Florida pays its chief executive more than $1.2 million a year in salary and benefits, most of it courtesy of taxpayers."

Outraged, the state Department of Juvenile Justice says the money paid to William Schossler is excessive and should be spent to help kids. The state wants the hefty paydays to stop. "It was never the department's intent that such a large share of the funding would go to compensate the top administration of your corporation instead of into direct services for our youth," wrote Gov. Rick Scott's juvenile justice chief, Wansley Walters, in a Dec. 12 letter to Schossler. "That is something that neither the department nor the citizens of Florida can abide."

Schossler, 65, of Chiefland, is president of The Henry & Rilla White Foundation, a Tallahassee-based nonprofit that has done work for the state for more than two decades. Named for Schossler's grandparents, the foundation manages residential treatment beds, provides counseling and therapy to troubled children after they complete residential care, and has programs to divert kids from delinquency.

In the current budget year, the foundation's 23 juvenile justice contracts statewide have a total value of $10.2 million.

The previous year, Schossler made $382,906 in salary and $579,914 in bonuses and incentive compensation, that year's IRS filing shows. . . .

"There is no way that over the past couple of years you can have the level of executive compensation rise without seeing a reduction in services," Walters said in an interview. . . .

For now, Schossler makes no apologies for his pay and benefits package.

"If there's something wrong here, I'm sure my board will fix it, but there's nothing wrong here," Schossler said. "If anything, my board thinks I'm underpaid."

"The Specter of Charlie Crist"

Jim Turner: "When it comes to the down and dirty of Florida politics, where U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, and Gov. Rick Scott have every word dissected by the media, and Democrats in 2012 were able to dent the GOP domination in the state Legislature and among the congressional delegation, there has been a single specter that constantly would raise its head wherever partisan events transpired: Charlie Crist." "Florida Politics in 2012 Overshadowed by the Specter of Charlie Crist".

Florida's political story of the year

Scott Maxwell: Florida's political story of the year is clear: "It's a story that unfolded in Orlando's backyard — in Seminole County, to be precise."

That's where 36,983 voters did something that hadn't been done in a quarter-century: oust a chosen speaker of the Florida House.

Newspapers from all over the state marveled at the defeat of Speaker-designate Chris Dorworth, calling it "shocking," "stunning" and "one of the largest upsets in the history of the Florida Legislature."

Really, though, all local voters did was take a stand against self-serving politics, conflicts of interest and abuses of power.

And in doing so, they sent shock waves throughout the state — and a wake-up call to Tallahassee.

In fact, the entire Legislature is now talking about revamping the shady way it does business, cracking down on lawmakers' access to special-interest money, high-priced travel and political perks.

It's reform that is overdue — yet which probably wouldn't even be on the table if voters in this one district hadn't united in bipartisan fashion to say: Enough.

Ironically, Dorworth should have been able to cruise to re-election.

Not only was his district drawn specifically for him, he was flush with special-interest money.

He had political sugar daddies ranging from Disney World to [alleged Democrat] mega-trial lawyer John Morgan.

Dorworth would support legislation that Disney wanted. And Disney would fill Dorworth's campaign coffers — $180,000 last year alone.

It was the kind of "magic" Disney doesn't like to talk much about when promoting its squeaky-clean image.

And this political marriage probably would have continued to thrive … if Dorworth had simply kept his head down.

"Democrats score gains across the I-4 corridor"

Jim Turner writes that "the general election showed that Florida remains an ideologically diverse collective. The new constitutionally required rules of redistricting helped Democrats score gains across the I-4 corridor, erasing Republican supermajority holds in the state House and Senate." "Legislative, congressional races".

Business hacks dominate judiciary

"Dennis Baxley, Tom Lee Bring Business Experience to Judiciary Roles".

Red tide

"Officials say red tide is responsible for thousands of dead fish that have washed up along the beaches in Sarasota and Charlotte counties." "Red tide kills thousands of fish in Sarasota".

"Florida on political front-line nationally"

Jeff Henderson: "Florida, as it has been in recent years, was a political front-line nationally, at the presidential, congressional and state levels."

Obama was not the only Democrat to win big in Florida this year. When 2012 opened, most pundits expected U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., to be in a competitive election as he sought a third term. Things appeared to be coming together for U.S. Rep. Connie Mack as he sought the Republican nomination to challenge Nelson. Despite exchanging heavy fire with Mack, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux pulled out of the primary. Mack easily dispatched Mike McCalister and a late challenge from former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon to win the Republican nomination. But Nelson turned up the heat on Mack with a series of attack ads. Mack never recovered from those, or from earlier ones by the LeMieux campaign -- while the Republican leadership, which had welcomed Mack into the race, began to express doubts about his bid. Nelson crushed Mack at the polls, taking 55 percent; the Republican trailed with 42 percent.

There were some major changes to Florida’s congressional delegation in 2012. In one of the highest-profile races in the nation, Democrat Patrick Murphy overcame controversial Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West’s major financial advantage to knock him off in the general election. West took days to concede, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of many Florida voters.

In a rematch from 2010, Democrat Joe Garcia turned the tables on Republican U.S. Rep. David Rivera, who was constantly in the news for accusations about ethics violations. Another Democrat who lost in 2010 -- outspoken liberal Alan Grayson -- came roaring back to Congress in 2012 as he emerged to represent a new district in Central Florida. But Republicans held their own as incumbents Vern Buchanan, Steve Southerland, Dan Webster and Bill Young held off major Democratic challengers.

There are also some new Republicans representing Florida in Congress. In one of the biggest political upsets Florida has seen in recent decades, tea party favorite Ted Yoho, a large-animal veterinarian who had never run for office before, defeated U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns in the GOP primary. Stearns had been in Congress for almost a quarter of a century. Conservative attorney and veteran Ron DeSantis emerged to represent a new congressional district on the Atlantic Coast. Overcoming a very crowded Republican primary field, talk-show host Trey Randel will replace Mack in representing parts of Southwest Florida.

5 things to know

"5 things to know in Florida for Dec. 28".

Will Palm Beach supply scab dockworkers?

"The Port of Palm Beach dockworkers are a non-union workforce and therefore will not be affected by any potential strike by the ILA workers." "Walkout by workers won’t affect Port of Palm Beach but Miami, Port Everglades will hurt".

City whines about audit showing it unnecessarily slashed salaries

"A state audit criticizing Hollywood for declaring financial urgency in 2011 was full of mistakes and presumptions, according to a response submitted by city leaders this week."

“Obviously bad data in equals bad conclusions out,” said City Attorney Jeff Sheffel.

The city filed its 27-page response, plus graphics, late Wednesday night, just hours before the state’s deadline. . . .

In November, the state auditor released a scathing report which criticized Hollywood for failing to plan for rising pension costs and not considering all available funding before declaring “financial urgency” in 2011.

That declaration led to employees’ salaries and jobs being slashed, and residents’ taxes and fees going up. The city eventually had to overcome a $38 million budget gap.

• The city would have needed a special act of the Legislature to make changes to its pension program;

• The state auditor underestimated the city’s budget shortfall by nearly $7 million.

• When citing the amount of money Hollywood could have carried over from one year to another, several figures were wrong, the city said.

• The report said the city raised the tax rate for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, which was an incorrect statement. Hollywood kept the rate at $7.4479 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

• When criticizing the city for the way it tracks its vehicle maintenance and fuel usage, the state auditor incorrectly used the number 750 vehicles. The city owns 1,042, according to Hollywood officials.

• The state audit suggested the city could have transferred $22.7 million from its water and sewer fund. But the city says most of the money was not cash in hand and could not be used to transfer to the general fund.

The longshoremen's union represents more than 14,000 workers handling containerized cargo at seaports from Massachusetts to Texas, including four in Florida: Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.

A dockworker's walkout starting Sunday would not affect passenger cruise ships, U.S. mail, military cargo, perishable cargo or non-containerized cargo called break bulk, such as cars or steel.

But it could have a major impact on distribution of household items from clothes to footwear, cleaning supplies to paper and supplies for manufacturers.

Scott urged the president to invoke powers under the Taft-Hartley Act to protect the public from labor disputes that 'imperil the national health or safety.' He wants Obama to prevent the union from striking.

The governor will hold a press conference about the looming strike Thursday morning.

Big of them

The conservative Orlando Sentinel editorial board claims it hasn't "always seen eye-to-eye with Gov. Rick Scott."

Remember his "education savings account" plan? Cloaked in a euphemistic Trojan horse, his "vouchers for all" gambit would have siphoned off withering public school resources. A reckless non-starter.

Yet in his 2013 legislative wish list, Scott struck a more reasonable tone, saying private schools that accept money under the state's limited voucher program should take the same standardized tests that public schools use to assess students.

Christened in 2001, the program provides vouchers up to $4,335 to students who qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch. Funding comes from corporate kick-ins, which receive a dollar-for-dollar state tax credit.

But we also believe in accountability when public money is being funneled into private hands. Other states already recognize the wisdom of judging students by the same yardstick.

Big of them.

Good luck with that

"A group of Venice and Sarasota residents and religious leaders plan to meet for a candlelight vigil outside Congressman Vern Buchanan’s Sarasota headquarters Thursday to urge the legislator to support new laws cracking down on assault weapons like the one used in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting that killed 27. The vigil is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. Thursday outside Buchanan’s office at 111 S. Orange Ave." "Vigil to urge Vern Buchanan to support new gun laws".

"Lunatic"

"West voted to strike the word 'lunatic,' but he only gave it a brief mention in his final weekly newsletter, which focused more on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, foreign affairs, and the economy. And West wrote that his final weekly update as a congressman from District 22 wasn’t really his last word. (He represented District 22 but ran in District 18 due to redistricting. For more on his parting thoughts, read his post-election interview with NPR.)" "Outgoing U.S. Rep. Allen West said the House voted to remove the word ’lunatic’ from federal law" ("The lone 'no' vote was cast by Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas").

Related: "The oddest fact-checks of 2012".

Tax fight

"The state's 1st District Court of Appeal will hear arguments in February in a long-running tax fight between Florida counties and online-based travel companies such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. A state Circuit Court judge in Tallahassee ruled earlierl this year against 17 counties that argue the companies had not properly paid tourist-development taxes — an issue that also has flared in recent years in the Legislature."

Online-based travel companies, which serve as middlemen between many hotels and travelers, charge customers for room rentals and fees related to providing the service. The legal fight centers on whether tourist-development taxes apply to the total cost that customers pay for their rooms, or only to the discounted, wholesale rate that the travel companies pay the hotels.

Counties say the total cost should be taxed, while the industry says taxing its markup would amount to a services tax. The appeals court last week scheduled oral arguments for Feb. 12.

"A performance that needs no encore"

The Palm Beach Post editorial board: "At last, the curtain seems to have fallen on the Kravis Center ‘s longest-running performance: a hostile contract dispute between the center’s executives and the local stagehand union."

On Friday, both sides announced a deal that promised to end the 12-year standoff, which had culminated last week in a strike that caused the cancellation of four productions of the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys.” . . .

The dispute began in 2000, when Kravis Center executives cut off contract negotiations with the stagehand union, fired six workers and booted the rest from the premises. As the case wound through court, judges sided repeatedly with the union.

In 2002, an administrative law judge ruled that the Kravis Center bargained in “bad faith” and engaged in unfair labor practices, and a federal appeals court agreed. The National Labor Relations Board concluded earlier this year that the Kravis Center owed union stagehands $2.6 million for illegally denying them work.

Union officials told the Post’s Jane Musgrave that the Kravis Center agreed to pay $2.2 million of the $2.6 million it was said to owe workers, and that it will hire union workers to full-time stagehand positions once again.

If the agreement holds, the show may go on, at last, without the protests, strikes or animosity of late. That was a performance that needs no encore.

"South Florida home prices were up 8.5 percent"

"South Florida home prices were up 8.5 percent in October from the same time last year, nearly double the increase seen nationally and another indicator of a recovering real estate market." "S. Fla. home prices end streak of gains, still up 8.5%".

Stories (Briefed) You Might Have Missed

"Three Stories (Briefed) You Might Have Missed".

"Today's Republicans couldn't be more misguided"

The Sun Sentinel editors seem surprised that "in recent years, conservation — once a conservative principle — has become a dirty word in Tallahassee. Today's Republicans have dismantled limits on development and deprived Florida Forever and other environmental initiatives of meaningful funding, all in the name of spurring economic growth. Their efforts couldn't be more misguided, or ill-timed." "Protect Florida's rivers and springs".

Rick Scott's Early-Learning Formula

"Rick Scott: Early-Learning Formula to Be Reviewed by Jan. 1".

The DEP's deputy secretary in charge of regulatory programs previously spent a decade as an engineer who specialized in getting clients their environmental permits. Another engineer who worked for developers heads up the division of water resources. A lawyer who helped power plants get their permits is now in charge of air pollution permitting. An engineering company lobbyist became a deputy director overseeing water and sewer facilities.

And the DEP's chief operating officer is a former chemical company and real estate executive from Brandon. He's not an employee, though. He's a consultant who's being paid $83 an hour — more than Vinyard makes on a per-hour basis — to advise Vinyard and his staff on ways to save money.

The DEP "was never great," said Mark Bardolph, a 27-year DEP veteran — and onetime whistle-blower — who was laid off from the Tallahassee office. "But now it's all a political farce."

Florida leads nation in death sentences

Courtesy of the "values" crowd: "A report by a national nonprofit group that studies the death penalty found that Florida remains among the most active states in using it and put more defendants on death row in 2012 than any other state."

The Death Penalty Information Center's report reveals that only nine states executed a prisoner this year, with Florida putting three to death. Texas, with 15, executed the most defendants, the report states.

However, the Sunshine State far exceeded other states in new death sentences: 21 defendants were sentenced to die in Florida through mid-December, the research says.

"The death penalty has been declining in use for about a decade and that continued in 2012," Executive Director Richard Dieter told the Orlando Sentinel. "There are now less states with the death penalty, as Connecticut abolished it this year."

Dieter said that the majority of new death-penalty cases in 2012 were in a small minority of states, with Florida, California, Texas and Pennsylvania accounting for 65 percent of new death sentences.

Often, he said, the inception of those cases is even more local, with prosecutors in individual jurisdictions contributing larger quantities of death-penalty cases. For example, several of Florida's new death cases in 2012 came from Duval County, the center's research shows.

RNC flop

"Of 521 adults surveyed in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, 41 percent said the RNC had a positive impact on the region, while 43 percent said it made no difference. Ten percent felt it hurt the area. Braun Research of Princeton, N.J., conducted the poll, which has a margin of error of 4.3 percent, from Dec. 5-13." "Hosting GOP convention leaves mixed feelings, poll finds".

GOPers look to undo Jeb's 1999 pension reform

"Florida municipal leaders say they expect state lawmakers will soon give them authority to rein in police and fire pension funds, which they say have mushroomed into a burden on taxpayers and drain cash from other needed services."

But union officials and even the lawmaker serving as point-man on the issue acknowledge that tackling pensions will require hard-nosed negotiations in coming months.

State Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, chairman of a Senate panel poised to take up the issue, likened the legislature’s attempts to revamp pensions to Congress’ frustratingly contentious debates over Social Security and Medicare.

“It’s a complicated political issue with a lot of competing interest groups,” Ring said. “But there’s also plenty of blame to go around when you look at how we got here.” . . .

With 2013 a non-election year in Florida, the emotional rivalry that usually pits unions against Republicans may ease, he said.

The target for cities is a 1999 law signed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush, who had been endorsed by the Florida PBA and firefighter unions in his campaign the previous fall against Democrat Buddy MacKay.

The measure requires that the growth since then of dollars flowing to cities from state taxes on property insurance premiums pay for additional benefits for police officers and firefighters. Under the law, city commissions have enacted a variety of pension sweeteners for police and firefighters, such as cost-of-living adjustments, lower retirement age, and increased “multipliers” for determining pensions based on years of service. . . .

Most involved in the pension fight say the rule is likely to be challenged in court — and may not survive. But its appearance is fortifying attempts to readdress the 1999 state law.

While municipal pensions underwent slight changes two years ago, lawmakers at the time approved major changes to the Florida Retirement System. Over union opposition, they ordered the more than 600,000 teachers and other government workers in the fund to pay 3 percent of their paychecks to its financing.

Unions challenged the constitutionality of the 3 percent requirement and won a round in Leon County Circuit Court. The case is now before the Florida Supreme Court.

If lawmakers lose, analysts have said the state would owe $1.1 billion in back pay to public employees in the state retirement system. Without the employees’ contribution, the legislature also would have to find an additional $861.2 million to finance the pension fund next year.

Ring, the Margate Democrat, said such a ruling would likely halt any work on municipal pensions.

“A ruling like that would consume everything next year,” Ring said.

"It's bordering on an alternative reality"

The Sarasota Herald Tribune editors: "Here is what Gov. Rick Scott recently said, during an interview with CNN about Florida's elections:"

"We need to have bipartisan legislation that deals with three issues. One, the length of our ballot. Two, we've got to allow our supervisors more flexibility in the size of their polling locations and, three, the number of days we have. We've got to look back at the number of days of early voting we had."

We couldn't have said it better.

In fact, Herald-Tribune editorials focused on the 2012 general election have emphasized those same three points.

Democrats pounced on Scott's statement, which reversed his previous defense of Florida's election laws, which were substantially revised in 2011 and signed by the governor. "It's bordering on an alternative reality," said former state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach. "He and his colleagues in the Legislature created precisely what happened."

Indeed, they did.

Scott trying to figure a way to take credit for the Obama-economy

"Florida Economy Displayed Life in 2012 without Addition of New Casinos".

"Sandy Hook Six"

Bill Maxwell: "An irony of ironies is that our public schools — where most Americans send their children each morning — collectively serve as the scapegoat for many of our societal ills. Another irony is that our teachers, to whom we entrust the education and socialization of our children, are some of the nation's most maligned public servants."

Many conservative politicians, think tank opinion shapers and other influential people establish their careers attacking teachers, portraying them as a pack of unionized incompetents and freeloaders. Many ordinary citizens — many who had positive experiences in their public schools — have contracted the demonize-teachers fever.

According to nationofchange.org, an irate reader wrote a scathing letter in the discussion section of the local newspaper to a teacher who opposed cutting the two programs.

I share a portion of the letter because its sentiments echo those of millions of other Americans:

"You, as a public sector employee, don't generate ANY revenue. Every penny of the budget of your public sector enterprise is TAKEN from producers. It's other people's money versus money your organization EARNED. Your salary is not market based. Your salary, nor your benefits, nor your job, is in jeopardy during contracting economic times. If I want a raise I have to prove I have contributed more to the bottom line, and then it doesn't matter unless the entire firm has grown the bottom line sufficiently to give me that raise. You are insulated from that reality. … How is that fair? Especially in light of the fact that you don't even generate the revenue that pays for your constantly rising salary?"

At Sandy Hook, instead of acting like moochers who sprint for the parking lot at 3 p.m., the six educators who died were trying to protect the 6- and 7-year-old students in their care from the killer's semiautomatic weapon. They were classroom teachers, a school psychologist, a behavioral therapist and a principal.

And they are heroes.

All Aboard Florida

"If the All Aboard Florida train becomes a reality, the system linking Orlando International Airport with Miami would generate $145 million in fares annually by 2018, according to records filed by the company with the state. With one-way tickets estimated in the $100 range, that would mean the Coral Gables-based company is expecting to carry nearly 1.5 million passengers between Central and South Florida within three years of its inaugural trip in 2015." "Orlando-to-Miami train could generate $145M in fares".

As reported in The Palm Beach Post, only 17 states are setting up their own exchanges — marketplaces on which individuals and small business owners can pool their buying power to purchase health insurance. In Florida and elsewhere, resistance is a sort of political last stand. Gov. Rick Scott claims that the state has received no specific information about the cost of the exchanges, but the governor waited past last June’s Supreme Court decision to even start asking. That delay made Florida miss the deadline for states to submit a plan for an exchange. So the federal government may create one. . . .

Political resistance hurts only the uninsured and underinsured. The best political response would be to make the law work as best as possible, and make the law better when the inevitable shortcomings appear. The holdout politicians also need to get over it.

McBride memorial scheduled Friday

"A memorial service for Bill McBride, the Florida Democrat who defeated Janet Reno for the party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2002 but lost to Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, will be held later this week in Tampa. The service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at the Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church." "Memorial set for Ex-Florida governor candidate". Daniel Ruth: "McBride did good and thought big".

"Florida gun sales soar"

"Florida gun sales soar over gun control fears".

South Florida federal court has undergone a generational sea change

"Over the past few years, the federal court in the Southern District of Florida has seen the departure of four judges — Daniel T.K. Hurley, Paul C. Huck, Alan S. Gold and Patricia A. Seitz — who have gone on 'senior' status, meaning they handle lighter caseloads. Another federal judge, Adalberto Jordan, was confirmed this year as a member of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta."

Those five vacancies, in one of the busiest federal districts for criminal and civil cases in the country, accounted for about one-third of all the positions on the federal bench in South Florida.

The retirements have generated coveted openings that have been filled by Scola, 57; Kathleen M. Williams, 56, a former Miami federal public defender; and Robin S. Rosenbaum, 46, a former Fort Lauderdale federal magistrate judge. Rosenbaum, also a one-time federal prosecutor, was sworn in as a new U.S. district judge Dec. 13.

"PolitiFact Florida: Crist has taken both sides on abortion"

"Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's evolution from Republican to independent to Democrat has led to sharp criticism from Republicans."

You know the GOPers are getting desperate when they start drawing comparisons between Crist and one of their own:

Republican Party of Florida chairman Lenny Curry tried to link Crist with U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, a Republican from Missouri known for his comment that "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy.

Crist's stance on abortion throughout his career is too complex to boil down to a sound bite. He has called himself "pro-choice" and "pro-life."

In 1992 when he was running for the state Legislature, the Miami Herald wrote that Crist said he was "pro-choice," but opposed state-funded abortion.

When he was running for the U.S. Senate in 1998, Crist wrote in a questionnaire: "I am pro-choice, but not pro-abortion. I believe that a woman has the right to choose, but would prefer only after careful consideration and consultation with her family, her physician and her clergy; not her government."

In 2006, when he was running for governor, Crist said: "I'm pro-life on this issue, but I also understand that it's very important to respect the views of others, and I do. I don't think it's important to change the law. What I do believe is important is that we change hearts and not the law."

During the 2006 campaign, he told a priest that if elected he'd sign an abortion ban similar to South Dakota's, which included an exception only for the life of the mother. But later Crist told the Associated Press that he'd only sign such a ban if it included exceptions for rape and incest.

He repeated that summary of his views — only accepting a ban that included exceptions for life of the mother, rape and incest —at other times that year.

In 2010, after leaving the Republican Party, Crist vetoed a bill that would have required women seeking abortions to get an ultrasound.

In August 2012, Crist endorsed President Barack Obama in an op-ed in the Tampa Bay Times and complained about growing Republican extremism.

"Look no further than the inclusion of the Akin amendment in the Republican Party platform, which bans abortion, even for rape victims," he wrote.

PolitiFact Florida has a muddled response:

Crist has taken both sides on abortion, so it's possible to attack his view and be partially correct. But Curry ignores Crist's words and actions that conflict with Akin's stances. We rate this claim Mostly False.

But the regressive sales taxes keep on coming

"For the third year in a row, Florida is giving up on collecting more than $100 million in taxes, fees and fines owed the state. . . . A large portion written off by state officials was unpaid taxes, including sales taxes, corporate income taxes and unemployment taxes." "Florida forgave $124.2 million in taxes and fines".

Sad day

"Former gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride dies".

Falling up

"Just elected as Manatee County's election chief, former state senator Mike Bennett is eyeing another public office. Bennett is one of four applicants vying to fill two vacant seats on State College of Florida's Board of Trustees. After ending his time as a state senator because of term limits, Bennett is scheduled to be sworn in as Manatee County supervisor of elections on Jan 8." "Bennett seeks to be State College of Florida trustee".

"Florida's wading bird population suffered during 2012"

"South Florida's wading bird population suffered during 2012, with nesting on the decline due to the return of too much water too fast for herons, wood wtorks, ibises and egrets. The 2012 wading bird nest total was a 39 percent decline compared to the average over the past decade, according to the South Florida Water Management District." "Decline of wading birds raises environmental concerns".

Longshoremen may throw down their tools, Scott in a dither

"Dade and Broward county leaders are watching negotiations as unionized port workers threaten to strike on Saturday." "Miami-Dade and Broward ports on edge as union strike looms". Background: "Gov. Scott urges Obama to take action to prevent ports strike".

"Lumping all of the Republican Party leaders together" with an alleged crook

Jeremy Wallace: "It did not take long for Sarasota Republican Party chairman Joe Gruters to distance the party from former leader Robert Waechter, who was charged with a felony for allegedly stealing a political rival’s identity to make donations to Democrats in her name."

Since Waechter was charged earlier this month, Gruters has been sending word to the media and the local Republican Party faithful that he knew nothing of Waechter’s alleged behavior.

“Whether factual or not, it is important you know that the RPOS had no awareness of, nor involvement with the alleged activities,” Gruters said in the statement to party followers. “There is no place in our party for illicit campaign tactics or disreputable behavior.”

Waechter turned himself in to authorities on Dec. 14 after Sarasota County sheriff’s deputies said they found evidence that showed Waechter used a prepaid debit card to make a $200 campaign donation to a Democratic candidate for Congress in the name of Lourdes Ramirez, a Republican considering running for the County Commission against one of Waechter’s favored candidates in 2014. They also reported that Waechter made a $35 donation in Ramirez’s name to a Democratic state legislative candidate.

In theory, the donations could have been used against Ramirez, a community activist from Siesta Key, in a Republican primary to raise suspicions about her party credentials.

Waechter, who has already given up his seat on the governor-appointed Sarasota-Bradenton Airport Authority, has refused to comment since his arrest.

Gruters, who himself is considering running for another County Commission seat, said he was forced to respond because too many people in the community were suggesting that he or other party leaders had something to do with the effort to discredit Ramirez.

“People were lumping all of the Republican Party leaders together because he is a former leader,” Gruters said.

The State Attorney’s Office is expected to decide in the next two weeks whether to pursue charges against the politically connected Waechter, who played a key role in helping four of five Sarasota County commissioners win elections.

When can I have my "surplus value" back?

Lloyd Brown whines that the "liberal media are chock full of end-of-the-world doom and gloom", but in the same breath says "America is in decline, descending into socialism." "Seekers of Good News Don't Have to Leave Florida".

"America is descending into socialism". Really?

This John Bircher dead ender, who once graced the pages of the Florida Times-Union before a predictable stint as speech writer for Jeb Bush, plainly spent too much of his college time in those science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classes Rick Scott so loves. Brown probably believes the silly stuff he writes.

To avoid further embarrassment, we recommend that the geezer brush up on the proper usage of complicated words - like "socialism" - by taking a look at this oldie but goodie: "Facts on Communism: Volume 1 the Communist Ideology - Committee on Un- American Activities house of Representative Eighty-Sixth Congress First Session December 1959".

Brown has got his pejoratives wrong, even by Tail Gunner Joe's lax standards.

"A rich assist from Florida taxpayers"

"With a rich assist from Florida taxpayers, Walt Disney World and local sports promoters are hoping to make Orlando a magnet for soccer fans this February. Disney and the Central Florida Sports Commission have organized the region's first formal "Soccer Spring Training" program, which will feature six Major League Soccer teams holding preseason camps across Central Florida for 18 days in February." "Disney at center of state-subsidized plan to draw pro-soccer fans here".

Florida's LGBT 600,000 population second in size only to California

"At the first meeting of a new state House education subcommittee this month, a dramatic moment in Florida history passed virtually unnoticed."

Rep. Joe Saunders, D-Orlando, saw that as a good sign.

When lawmakers were asked to introduce themselves and provide a little background, some mentioned careers as educators. Others talked of steering their kids through public schools.

When it was Saunders’ turn, he spoke about having lobbied for anti-bullying legislation, approved in 2008. He added, “My partner is also a high school drama teacher, so that helps in my perspective as well.”

Saunders, 29, is one of two openly gay Florida House members elected this year, the first in state history.

In a legislature where milestones passed in recent years include the election of the first Haitian-American lawmaker, and a Cuban-American House speaker, Saunders and Rep. David Richardson, D-Miami Beach, also see themselves as pioneers.

“You’ve got to be sitting at the table,” Richardson, 55, said of the importance of their election. “This is not my quote, but someone has said, ‘if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.’”

With a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population estimated at more than 600,000 people, second in size only to California, Florida had been the nation’s largest state without any openly gay legislators, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Victory Fund, a political advocacy organization.

The economy is recovering like gangbusters in some of the Sunshine State's traditional boom sectors such as tourism. But by some measures, Florida is in worse shape now than when Scott took office.

Floridians' per-capita income has been flat since Scott was inaugurated. Though the unemployment rate has dropped, more than half of the decline is attributed to people leaving the work force. Two key job sectors — construction and government employment — actually employ fewer people today than in 2010.

And though Florida's tourism and professional services sectors are humming, others such as retail, education and transportation are projected to produce fewer jobs than economists had predicted two years ago. Indeed, projections that Florida would create 632,100 jobs by 2015 have been cut back to 454,900 jobs.

Economists and policymakers alike say it's pointless to try to determine how many jobs the governor should be given credit for creating. That's because Florida's economy is powerfully shaped by national and international trends that no governor has power to influence. . . .

Florida's unemployment rate was 11.4 percent in January 2011 — and was down to 8.1 percent in November. In raw numbers, that translates to about 170,000 more people with jobs. An additional 760,000 people were unemployed and looking for work in a labor force of 9.3 million.

But state economists reported recently that 57 percent of this year's drop in the unemployment rate was because fewer workers are seeking jobs — and that the state was still 703,000 jobs below its pre-recession peak. Simply put, while new jobs are being created, an even greater number of workers have left the labor force.

What's more, given Florida's population growth, economists said it would take 1 million new jobs to get back to the same pre-recession level of employment.

Still, the governor's mantra heading into the second half of his term is that Florida's economic picture has dramatically improved.

Donna Arduin, the former Jeb Bush budget director who developed Scott's "7-7-7" plan, said it was impossible to evaluate his performance based solely on Florida's job figures, given that much of the plan was not implemented.

"You really need to look at how the state has improved relative to other states," she said. And if lawmakers decided to make major tax cuts during the next two years, "that would make a big difference."

Others aren't so sure.

"The notion of simply cutting taxes and reducing regulatory burden in a state with a moderate level of regulation and extremely low taxes doesn't make much of an impact," said Orlando economist Hank Fishkind, whose firm works for land developers.

But what experts say is indisputable is that [Florida's] economy has taken longer to recover than anyone predicted in 2010.

Personal-income growth, for instance, is weaker than before Scott took office in 2011. Per-capita income was projected to grow to $38,853, an increase of $3,233. Instead, it's currently on pace to grow $2,200 by mid-2014.

Gun nut takes "rhetorical aim" at former friend, Chain Gang Charlie

"As he postures to run against Republican Gov. Rick Scott, newly minted Democrat and former Gov. Charlie Crist no longer wholeheartedly backs the NRA's agenda. So Crist, the formerly staunch opponent of gun control, will no longer get the backing of the NRA. Asked about Crist's gun flip-flop, the NRA's Florida lobbyist and chief Marion Hammer took rhetorical aim." "Crist and the NRA". See also "NRA, RPOF Open Up on Gun Control Charlie Crist".

"Unemployment-claim denials have soared"

"Unemployment-claim denials have soared since [Florida's 2011] law took effect, even as the number of claims has fallen. Since the third quarter of 2011, when the measure was implemented, denials have jumped by more than 140 percent, according to federal labor data."

In a 15-month period ending in September, the state rejected 279,000 claims — more than twice the number it denied in the 15 months before the changes became law.

The average number of rejections rose to almost 56,000 per quarter, up from about 23,000. Total rejections during the past 15 months is more than all the denials issued in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The denials have piled up even as total claims fell. Average weekly claims from first-time filers have dropped almost 34 percent during the past two years. Continuing claims shrank by 43 percent.

The data reflect denials issued under the state unemployment program, which provides the first 23 weeks of benefits to laid-off Floridians. It includes claims rejected on largely procedural grounds, not those denied because a worker quit or was dismissed for misconduct.

But worker advocates say the requirements delay and sometimes block people from getting benefits they have earned.

Claimants may no longer file by phone and must complete a 45-question online skills assessment before receiving payments and enter detailed evidence of their work-search activities in the state's online system.

Though each requirement sounds benign, workers say the state's instructions are unclear and the online filing system is temperamental. With little phone help available, many claimants find themselves lost if they encounter a problem or make a mistake.

"Not a good deal for Florida"

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board remind us that "the state is spending $4 billion on tax breaks and other incentives for businesses."

Gov. Rick Scott is a strong supporter of these kinds of enticements, but the game is heavily tilted toward the companies that pit one state against another, and it doesn't always work. A reassessment of Florida's real priorities is in order. . . .

There is nothing conservative about such government largesse going to private industry. It gives a competitive advantage to certain companies, typically large corporations with political clout, distorting the marketplace. And it puts government in the position of picking corporate winners and losers, a role much maligned by Republicans when it was the Obama administration providing loan guarantees to the solar panel maker Solyndra.

In Florida, companies like Embraer Aircraft Holding and the Boeing Co. can win deals worth tens of millions of dollars that are hashed out in a process shrouded in secrecy due to exemptions from public records law. Whether the promised jobs materialize is another matter. A Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald analysis late last year was not encouraging. Since 1995, it found that only one-third of the jobs promised by companies that signed contracts with state officials for incentives had been filled. The program starves government coffers and shifts the remaining tax burden to individuals and small businesses. Overall, that's not a good deal for Florida or the nation.

Barreiro voted to award a hefty contract to friend

"Miami-Dade County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro says he did not violate ethics guidelines when he voted to award a hefty contract to friend’s a construction firm." "Questions raised about Miami-Dade Commissioner Barreiro’s votes for friend’s firm".

Florida's NRA and its craven political supporters

Randy Schultz: "Florida embodies the nation’s devolution to a gun culture."

The NRA’s argument is: If the government starts taking one gun, the government will take all the guns. If the government starts taking guns, the government will take other freedoms. To me, essential freedoms have been those that the government takes away from you in prison. To the NRA, freedom is the ability to own three assault rifles, four Glocks and unlimited ammo.

And, in Florida, to be able to conceal your firearm. And take it to work. And to use it in self-defense even if you provoke the confrontation. And, perhaps next on the agenda, to wear it openly. Statewide. In 2011, the NRA got the legislature to again override local firearm ordinances. None of this helps draw tourists or companies.

A quarter-century ago, the NRA in Florida was resisting what it considered to be infringements on “gun rights.” Having put down that movement, the NRA began pushing for expansion of “gun rights,” beyond all reason based on the assumption that a more armed populace is a safer populace and that untrained civilians can handle firearms like trained law enforcements officers.

Lie down with dogs

The Orlando Sentinel editors are disappointed that their Republican friends "in charge in Tallahassee have dismantled limits on development and deprived Florida Forever and other environmental initiatives of funding, all in the name of spurring economic growth." "State leaders must act to save ailing springs, rivers". Related: "The Everglades: Where the wildflowers are".

So much for the Laffer Curve

"In just two years, South Florida households have slashed their spending by nearly $10,000, cutting back on everything -- from dining out to buying clothes and even healthcare." "Spending plummets in South Florida after Great Recession".

Nelson takes on ALEC

John Lantigua: "In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson connected the recent frustration and chaos at polling places in Florida and other states to the efforts of one little-known organization: the American Legislative Exchange Council – also known as ALEC."

Nelson said a reduction in Florida early voting days from 14 to eight and new rules that forced people who had changed counties to file time-consuming provisional ballots provoked long lines at the polls that afflicted many voters, especially in urban areas where some waited up to seven hours to vote.

Those changes were adopted by the GOP-controlled legislature as part of the 2011 bill HB 1355, which Republicans said was aimed at fighting voter fraud and saving money. Wednesday, Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the bill into law, changed course and suggested Florida should undo part of it and again expand early voting days to head off problems.

Florida was one of at least 14 states that altered their voting laws leading up to the 2012 general election.

“Let’s not forget that this effort in Florida took place against the backdrop of a broader Republican-led campaign to restrict voting,” Nelson testified Wednesday. “Leading up to the 2012 election, at least a dozen states controlled by Republicans approved new obstacles to voting as part of a campaign linked to the American Legislative Exchange Council.”

ALEC is an organization four decades old that brings together representatives of large U.S. corporations and more than 2,000 conservative legislators from around the U.S. Most of its multi-million dollar funding comes from its corporate members. The group arranges for corporate and legislative members to meet behind closed doors to exchange ideas and writes model legislation that lawmakers can promote in their states.

A list of who in Florida belongs to ALEC was not made available by the Florida chairman of the group, State Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, despite repeated requests by The Palm Beach Post. The national organization also did not respond to the same request.

Locals block developers

Naja and Arnaud Girard, who own a Key West marine assistance and boat salvage company, "started poking around Washington, D.C., archives and online databases, trying to find a way to keep at least some of [Key West's Wisteria Island] island undeveloped. They hit the jackpot: documents that suggested the Bernsteins could not own the island because the Navy had not given up title to Wisteria until 1982. And, when it did, it transferred it to the U.S. Department of the Interior, not the state of Florida." "A tussle for a wild isle in the Florida Keys".

Scott embodies Mack's entitlement, West's tea party credentials, and Rivera's ethical inferiority rolled into one

Stephen Goldstein: "In Florida, in November, 'the people' rose up and began to take back the state for representative government. But will the momentum to wallop big money and the tea party/GOP continue? Or will the good guys fizzle, as they too often do, and let the bad guys recoup their losses and then some in 2014?"

The liberal gains this year exceeded anything I could have hoped for. In spite of Gov. Scott's and the Legislature's voter suppression efforts, Floridians came out in droves, stood in lines for hours, and gave President Obama a decisive victory over Mitt Romney. All the jabber about Jewish voters' abandoning the president because he allegedly isn't a friend of Israel proved to be FOX-induced hysteria.

In addition, the power of "the people" neutralized all the money spent by outside groups to unseat three state Supreme Court justices so Rick Scott could pack the court with right-wing radicals and defeated draconian amendments to the state constitution. Floridians sent an undeniable message to conspiring, carpetbagger, political fat cats: Spend your money here to soak in the sun, but don't mess with our three co-equal branches of government.

But far-and-away my super-colossal cause for celebration was the November defeat Florida voters handed to a political trifecta who never should have been elected to Congress or any office.

First, Connie Mack, the son of a former congressman and two-term U.S. senator from Florida, rode into Washington on his family name. He gave up his career as special events coordinator for Hooters and his seat in the Florida House of Representatives, then moved from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Myers to run for a sure-thing: the U.S. House seat his father once held.

Elected in 2005, he never ran a business and always depended upon a government paycheck. But that didn't curb his chutzpah from rabidly spouting free-market, entrepreneurial principles and deriding "the entitlement" society that provides for others who didn't chose their genes as wisely as he did. He would still be parked in Congress for life had he not overreached by running against U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Now, let him fend for himself, release his rugged individualism, and seize all the economic opportunity he can through his family connections — he'll need them now more than ever.

Second, voters sent Rep. Allen West packing, let us hope for good — although with bravado that leaves one speechless, he compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, who lost an election, then won. . . .

Third, voters in Miami-Dade finally elected Joe Garcia over ethically-challenged David Rivera, which, at a pathetic level, says more about their defense of the indefensible than his willingness to game the system. At least he's gone.

Good riddance to the bad karma of Mack, West, and Rivera.

Scott embodies Connie Mack's sense of personal entitlement, Allen West's tea party credentials, and David Rivera's ethical inferiority rolled into one, along with his unique brand of cluelessness that has allowed him to be in office for almost two years and still not "get it."

I'm counting on Nov. 4, 2014 being the end of Scott's beginning and the beginning of a life scott-free for the rest of us.

"What’s an inexperienced, political novice of a governor to do?"

The Palm Beach Post editorial board writes today that "Scott’s latest 180-degree shift also may be his most stunning: After signing a bill last year that shortened the number of days of early voting, the governor last week announced that Florida needs to … extend early voting."

What a difference an election makes. President Barack Obama’s victory, in which he carried Florida, underscored demographic shifts expected to favor Democrats for years. That has led Republicans at every level to ruminate on how to remain relevant. For Gov. Scott, the calculus is complicated further by low polling numbers — even a majority of Republicans don’t want him to run — and former Gov. Charlie Crist’s recent move to the Democrats, raising the possibility that he could mount a serious challenge to Gov. Scott in 2014.

What’s an inexperienced, political novice of a governor to do?

The answer, evidently, is to renounce controversial stands and make an abrupt dash to the political center, the same reflexive thinking evident in Gov. Scott’s new embrace of public education and his “tour” this year of the state’s public schools. After the election, Gov. Scott’s secretary of state went on a listening tour of his own to meet with county elections supervisors. Halfway through the governor’s term, the Scott administration finally is trying to understand how Florida works. . . .

It is in keeping with the actions of a man who came into office with little notion of how state government operates, and for whom each day promises some new policy revelation on the taxpayers’ dime.

Grubbing for Wingnuts

Adam C. Smith: "Yes, it's too early to be looking at the 2016 presidential election, but it's hard to ignore that two prominent Floridians top the list of potential Republican nominees: former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio."

Rubio, 41, is the early favorite among Republican voters, polls show, and he is doing nothing to bat down speculation about running. Among the big decisions he'll face: Does he really want to leave the Senate after one term, because he could not run for two offices at the same time?

Bush, 59, hasn't been schmoozing activists in Iowa already, as Rubio has, but has drawn a front-page New York Times story about the potential of him running for the office his father and brother held. Among the factors he'll face: Is the Bush name still radioactive? Would his wife support it? Could it harm his sons' political ambitions?

Scott's had with "independent, critical thinkers"

"For Scott, college was a means to an end." "Scott's drive to cut waste, promote STEM in higher ed shaped by his own college experience".

As the Miami Herald's Fabiola Santiago recently explained, Rick Scott will "do whatever it takes to make sure Florida’s future generations of college graduates do not get the kind of well-rounded education that helps them become independent, critical thinkers, engaged citizens. You know, people who vote with a social conscience."

Yee haw!

"With many parents still concerned after last week's mass shooting in Connecticut, state Rep. Mike Fasano hopes to ease their fears by hiring school resource officers for every Florida elementary school. Fasano sent Gov. Rick Scott a letter Friday asking him to include the measure in his proposed state budget." "Fasano: Schools need officers".

Scott wants to deny longshoremen the right to strike

"Rick Scott Urges President Obama to Wade into East Coast Port Negotiations".